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Friday, August 27, 2010

Since values in the card collector market are ever changing, it is important for you to stay up to date. In 2011 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, you will find accurate pricing for over 1 million cards based on the most recent auction results. Get updated pricing for rookies and prospects such as Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Jason Heyward, Ubaldo Jimenez, Buster Posey, Mike Stanton, Austin Jackson, Starlin Castro, David Freese, Ike Davis and more!

In this NEW edition you will receive:

• Pricing on baseball cards issued between 1863 and early 2010—including 2010 Topps Series 1 & 2• Over 10,000 photos to be able to easily identify cards•Thousands of price updates in vintage and modern cards• An easy to use grading scale so you will know the exact value of all your cards

Includes all of the updates on vintage sets, along with the latest pricing on 2010 cards through June. Plus, this edition marks the return of Bob Lemke as the editor. Enjoy!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The following article was written by Dean and published in the September 3, 2010 issue of Sports Collectors Digest.

The Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas trade seemed like the correct move for the Reds in 1966

As a Reds fan, I have heard the Frank Robinson trade debacle discussed my whole life. In hindsight, the Orioles definitely got the better end of the trade – but it was a very logical and aggressive move by the Reds in 1965.

In the 1960’s, the Reds had some very good teams and one of the best minor league systems. In 1961, the Reds came out of nowhere to win the NL pennant. The 1961 Reds roster consisted of mostly veterans and two young superstars – Frank Robinson and Vada Pinson. Since there were no playoffs in those days, only two teams could make it to the post-season. The Reds almost won the pennant again in 1962 and lost out on the last day
of 1964.

During the 1960’s, the Reds continued to replace the aging veterans with exciting young players from their incredible farm system. The Red’s youth movement would culminate five years later, with the creation of the big Red Machine – the dominant team of the 1970’s.

The 1965 season set the stage for the Frank Robinson trade. The 1965 Reds led the NL in every offensive category - except Stolen Bases. They also had the highest fielding percentage. The problem was pitching.

Seven of the eight 1965 Reds starters would eventually appear in an All-Star Game. The only exception was Deron Johnson, who had a break out year in 1965, leading the league in RBI’s and finished 4th in the MVP voting. Johnson was only 26 and seemed to be on the rise. His power was a prefect fit for Crosley Field’s short left field wall.

The problem with Johnson was that he was a butcher at 3B and the Reds Brass felt that Deron would even hit better at less demanding position. With future Hall-of-Famer Tony Perez at 1B and future All-Star Lee May right behind him in the minors, that position was well stocked. Johnson would be moved to LF.

The Reds also had to find a place for top prospect and slick fielding Tommy Helms to play. This move turned out to be a good one. Helms won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1966 and went on to become an All-Star. The Reds also had a promising slugging prospect in Art Shamsky, who would serve as a reserve.

Everyone felt that the Reds were one player away from the World Series in 1966, so that “doing nothing” was not really an option. The Reds badly needed pitching. So, who should of the Reds traded in the winter of 1965?

The options were limited.

Vada Pinson was the CF and was the only left-handed hitter in the line-up besides light hitting Johnny Edwards. He could not be traded.

Trading either Tommy Harper or Tony Perez would have less impact on the Reds in 1966, but it is doubtful that the Reds could have gotten a premier starter (not to mention a closer) for either of them. Besides, both were younger, cheaper and seemed like potential stars. Perez is now in Cooperstown.

That left Frank Robinson and Deron Johnson as only real trade options to acquire a front line starter.

Johnson was three years younger than Robinson and had improved the last two years. He had his career year in 1965 and had also played for new manager Don Heffner in the minors.

Robinson was involved in another contract squabble with the Reds at the time.

Robinson made the most money on the team.

Robinson a history of problems off the field.

Robinson was the leader and star of the team. It was widely thought that one of the reasons the Reds could not win was because of “team chemistry” and needed a shake-up.

That said, the Robinson trade never would have happened if the Orioles didn’t set the stage, by making two trades and assembling a package that the Reds could not refuse. Milt Pappas was only 27 and considered one of the best pitchers in the AL, Jack Baldshun was proven reliever and Dick Simpson was a promising prospect. Everyone in the Reds front office voted and was in favor of the trade.

Giving Perez and Helms a chance to play was a solid move. They became an important part of the Big Red Machine. The problem (and fun thing for fans) with trades is that you never know what the future holds.

The real problem was that Reds were very unlucky. Here is how it played out:

Robinson had a career year in 1966 and won the MVP. Frank benefited from a change in scenery and had something to prove and did so. Robinson probably would not have put up those numbers in Cincinnati.

The Orioles won the World Series.

Robinson was the missing piece for the Orioles and would lead them to the World Series again in 1969, 1970, & 1971.

The Reds finished in 7th place in the NL in 1966.

Pappas had his worst year and highest ERA in his career.

Jack Baldschun hurt his arm and would never have another good year.

Dick Simpson never became a starter and was eventually traded for Alex Johnson.

Deron Johnson declined steadily from his career year in 1965 and never lived up to his potential.

In hindsight, the Orioles definitely got the better end of the trade – but if the first four items listed above never took place, this trade would have never been discussed as much as it has been. Milt Pappas was actually a very good pitcher who won 209 career games. If Baltimore would have traded another pitcher for Robinson instead of Pappas, Milt would have pitched in four World Series, won a couple dozen more games in his career and quite possibly ended up in Cooperstown along side Frank Robinson.

As a Reds fan, it would have been nice to have Frank Robinson on the Reds for another five years. It is even possible that Frank Robinson might have even led the Reds to the World Series in 1967 and in 1969. It is also very possible that Robinson would have still been traded a year or two later. The Reds consistently produced good OF prospects and always seemed to need pitching.

For decades, I have studied the rosters as an armchair GM and tried to come up with another trade option for the 1966 Reds. Of course, Deron Johnson was the one that should have been traded to the Orioles instead of Frank Robinson, but it is just not practical to expect a team to trade a young star with 130 RBI’s. In the days before free agency, it simply never happened.

The Red’s Owner and General Manager, Bill Dewitt was a long time base baseball man and made some great trades in his day. When DeWitt was with the Tigers, he acquired (or stole) Rocky Colavito for Harvey Kuenn. DeWitt also made a couple of key trades to acquire Gene Freese and Joey Jay to enable the Reds in get to the 1961 World Series. DeWitt signed most of the players that would become the “Big Red Machine”, but will go down in history for making the worst trade of all time.

Bill DeWitt’s options were very limited. If the Reds were not so close to having a World Series caliber team, DeWitt probably would have taken the safe course of action and not traded the team’s star. Sluggers are more exciting than good pitchers and less likely to get hurt - but the situation in the winter of 1965 called for an aggressive move and DeWitt went for it.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

T206 is the most famous set ever produced. Dean's Cards recently sent off approximately 150 of the big name T206 baseball cards to PSA to be graded. The majority came back as PSA 4 and PSA 5. We have multiple cards of many of the Hall-of-Fame players. It was just so cool having so many of these amazing old cards, we had to make a video to share it with you guys. These cards are listed online and ready to buy - just click on the Dean's Cards T206 Page.

If you are interested in Tobacco Cards, you really need to pick up the new book The T-206 Collection: the Players & Their Stories. The amount of detail put into this book is astounding, and it will be used as a reference book for years to come.

Although the book has an image of each T-206 card, it focuses more on the players. Most of us baseball historians are familiar with most of the 76 Hall-of-Fame Players in the set, but the book contains a paragraph of information on all of 524 players in the T-206 baseball card set. This is an astounding accomplishment when you consider the fact that many of the T-206 cards feature minor league players that played the game a century ago.

This great book is written by Tom & Ellen Zappala - who I had the opportunity to meet at this National Sports Card Show. You can get more information or buy the book at T206Players.com. When we find a good thing, I always try to pass the information on to our customers and friends in the hobby.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The following article was written by Dean and published in the August 13, 2010 issue of Sports Collectors Digest.

1952 Topps: Still No. 1

Simply put, the 1952 Topps Baseball Card Set is the most popular sports card set ever produced. The 1952 Topps set was the first mainstream set issued by the Topps Gum Company and far surpassed all earlier sets in size, quality and quantity. These “Giant Sized” cards set a new benchmark for the hobby.

The 1952 Topps Baseball Card set was the brainchild of Sy Berger - now known as “the father of modern baseball cards”. The card market had been dominated by Bowman since 1948, when Bowman had the insight to sign the players to exclusive contracts to use their images. In 1950, Sy convinced the Shorin Brothers, his bosses and owners of the upstart Brooklyn-based gum company, that Topps could make an impact in the baseball card market.

Mr. Berger carefully planned the Topps assault on Bowman’s dominant position in the baseball card market. Topps issued two clean, but very modest sets in 1951. The 106 cards from the two sets featured Black & White pictures and the cards could be used to play a baseball game.

Fearful of a lawsuit by Bowman, Topps sold the 1951 cards with taffy instead of gum. The taffy idea was a disaster and would never be used again. Not only did the taffy melt and damage the cards, but the varnish used as coating on the cards rubbed off on the taffy, giving it the smell and flavor of paint. The 1951 cards served as a trial run for Topps, but were so unimpressive that they were virtually unnoticed by collectors and totally ignored by competitor Bowman Gum. The lessons learned in 1951, would serve Topps well in 1952.

Sy Berger spent the summer of 1951 in the clubhouses of Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds, meeting with the players of the visiting teams and signing just about all of them to a Topps contract. The players received $75 for a non-exclusive and $125 for an exclusive contract.

The major mistake that Bowman made was to use an agency to negotiate the contracts, rather than an employee of the company. This particular agency assigned a woman named Joan Crosby to deal directly with the players. The problem was that in 1951, women were not allowed inside the locker rooms. Joan waited outside that summer, while Berger was inside talking to the players, shaking hands and writing checks.

Whether Ms. Crosby was unaware of what Berger was up to or if she kept quiet to protect her position is not clear, but Bowman seemed caught by surprise when Topps launched such a formable product in 1952. If Bowman had more warning, it is very likely that they would have pursued legal action to halt sales of the1952 Topps set in mid-issue as they did with the Leaf set a few years earlier - and like Topps would do with Fleer in 1963. By the time that Bowman did react, the 1952 Topps cards were in the hands of the collectors.

With the players signed, Sy Berger then spent the winter of 1951 designing the 1952 Topps cards on his kitchen table. The product that Mr. Berger created, with its many innovations, was nothing less than genius. His design topped Bowman’s baseball card in almost every way.

The 1952 Topps Baseball Cards were the first set that was issued in six series. Each series was carefully proportioned with a fairly equal number of stars and players from each team. The 1952 Topps cards were 52% bigger in size at 2 5/8” x 3 3/4” than the 1952 Bowman cards and with 407 cards had 61% more cards in the set.

The 1952 Topps “Giant Size” cards – which came with a stick of gum - were an instant hit with the collectors. Bowman’s established foothold in the hobby was quickly negated, as kids decided to spend their pennies and nickels on the better product. Dime store owners had no choice but to yield to consumer demand and sell the bigger and better cards. As the weather warmed, Topps steadily released additional series of cards and collectors were now dazzled by the number of cards that kept coming.

Not only were the cards bigger, they were extremely well conceived and downright beautiful. 1952 Topps was the first set to have the team logos on the front of the card. Berger, who collected ball player’s autographs as a kid, designed the cards with a bold facsimile of the player’s signature on the cards.

The 1952 Topps cards were designed so that faces of the players were very visible. In the days before TV, fans rarely got to see their heroes’ faces up close or in color. Bowman used color paintings on their cards. Mr. Berger acquired Black & White photographs from each of the clubs and then sent them to a local art studio. Berger even provided each player’s eye color, hair color and even his ancestry to help the artist determine the player’s complexion. Unfortunately, the artist did not seem to take advantage of this information, as every player in the 1952 Topps set seems to have brown eyes and brown hair. The fair skinned Mickey Mantle even has a tan!

To truly appreciate how advanced the 1952 Topps issue was for its day, one really needs to place a 1952 Topps card side by side with a 1952 Bowman card. Although the player’s painted picture on the Bowman card is attractive, the Topps card is twice as big and much more striking.

When you flip the cards over and look at the card backs, the contest is not even close. 1952 Topps has so much more information. The poor Bowman card even wastes a third of its limited space on the back of the card with an ad! It is quickly apparent that in 1952, Topps was focused on making a top notch baseball card and Bowman was still selling bubble gum.

The backs of the 1952 Topps cards surpassed everything that had come before. Berger had pushed so hard for this project and he had his reputation (and probably his job) on the line. Berger spent many late nights referencing The Sporting News Baseball Register to write detailed bios and statistics for each card.

1952 Topps is the first time that the statistic line was ever used on a card. One interesting note on the line is that is says “Past Year’ and not “1951”. Berger later said that he was not confident that the cards would sell out that year and did not want to date the cards in case Topps had to spend the next few years liquidating them.

Tales of the Black Backs and Red Backs.
That question was answered very quickly. The sales were so successful, that Topps soon requested a second printing of the 1st Series, which contained cards #1 to #80. This caused the major variation of the set. The first printing of the 1st Series had Black Backs. The 2nd printing of Series 1 and the rest of the set all contained Red Backs. Neither back variation is considered rare, but cards with the Red Backs have slightly sharper and brighter pictures.

Some price guides suggest that the cards in the 1st Series of the 1952 have a lower population than cards #81 to #250. I tested this theory against the current DeansCards.com 1952 Topps online inventory of 1393 cards and found no significant difference between the populations of Series 1,2,3 or 4. We have an average of 5 of each card and all series have roughly the same number of cards.

Gil McDougald beat out Mickey Mantle
for Rookie of the Year award in 1951.

The population of the 5th Series (#251 to #310) of 1952 Topps was very interesting. These cards have always seemed harder for us to find and the DeansCards.com database confirmed my hunch. We only have 114 cards from the 5th Series or an average of less than two of each card. Other online marketplaces seem to verify this trend. My feeling is that Series 5 cards are probably more valuable than the price guides suggest. That leads us to the 1952 Topps 6th Series.

High Numbers to die - or swim - for
As great as the 1952 Topps Set is, it has one major disappointment. The last series of the 1952 Topps set was so grand and wonderful – loaded with so many cards of the games best players – but they were never made available to most of the original collectors. We never got to see the Grand Finale!
The 1952 Topps Series #6 was packed with diamond heroes from the Big Apple, starting with the first card in the series #311 Mickey Mantle. This was followed by #312 Jackie Robinson, #313 Bobby Thompson, #314 Roy Campanella, #315 Leo Durocher and #316 Davey Williams.

Topps clearly saved the most popular players for the last series and aimed that series at their hometown and biggest market. These cards were soon followed by more stars from New York City, such as Bill Dickey and the rookie cards of Gil McDougald, Joe Black, and Hoyt Wilhelm, and Boston’s Eddie Mathews.

Of the 48 Giants and Dodgers players included in the 1952 set, Topps saved 28 of them (58%) for the last series. The 6th Series also contained 7 of the best Yankees and 10 of the 23 future Hall-of-Fame Players. By sheer chance, the only three Hall-of-Fame players with 1952 Topps Rookie Cards were also in the 6th series: #392 Hoyt Wilhelm, #396 Dick Williams and #407 Ed Mathews.

Berger said later that he misjudged how long that it was going to take to print and release the last series of cards. By the time the 6th series was ready to distribute, the World Series was over and football had begun. The 6th Series cards were distributed, but did not sell and eventually returned to Topps.

Most collectors would never have the opportunity to purchase these great cards of Series 6. The 1952 Topps 6th series was distributed in such low numbers that it is the toughest and most expensive high number series in the history of collecting and the hardest set to complete.

For the next few years, Topps tried to give away these “surplus” cards at various promotions. In 1960, Topps decided that they needed the warehouse space and loaded the remaining 1952 Topps 6th Series cards onto a barge and dumped them into the Atlantic Ocean off of the coast of New Jersey.
Until Topps released the 1952 Topps Reprint Set in 1983, most of us old time collectors had no idea what most of the 1952 Topps high number cards looked like. The reprint set has further increased the popularity of the original 1952 Topps set because it had given the average collector access to replicas of the cards.

The placement of all of these NY players in the 1952 Topps 6th Series was as well thought out as the rest of the set. New York City was definitely the capital of baseball in the early 50’s. The city had the three best and most exciting baseball teams.

No Teddy and no Stan
A quick refresher in baseball history might be helpful, since many of us were not old enough to remember those years. The Giants’ Bobby Thompson hit the “Shot Heard Round the World” to defeat the Dodgers in a one game play-off in 1951, in probably the most exciting pennant race ever, only to see the Dodgers take back the pennant in 1952. The dominant Yankees then proceeded to beat both team in the World Series and also beat the Dodgers again in 1953. The World Series never left the city for those three years.

If you think that New York teams dominate baseball today, in the decade between 1947 and 1956 the three NY teams were in the World Series a total of 16 times! The Yankees won seven rings and the N.L. clubs each took home one. That is what I call dominant.

If Mickey’s 1952 Topps card were not a
double print, it would have half its
current population and be worth
multiple times its current value!

The three star players that did not sign with Topps for 1952 were Ted Williams and Whitey Ford, who were in the military, and Stan Musial, who had an exclusive contract with Bowman. Musial would not make his first appearance on a Topps card until 1958.

Even though the concepts were not understood at the time, the 1952 Topps Set introduced the hobby to “Demand Scarcity” with the famous 6th Series of cards and “Condition Scarcity” with the first card of the set. DeansCards.com buys and sells well over a million cards each year and no card’s value confuses people more than 1952 Topps #1 Andy Pafko.

The #1 card in any set is a typical victim of “rubber-banding” as it was often on the top of a collector’s stack and secured with a rubber band. For that reason, the card is often very difficult to find in pristine condition.

The 1952 Topps #1 Pafko card is the most extreme example of Condition Scarcity that I have seen in the hobby. The 1952 Topps #1 Pafko card is extremely tough to find in top condition, but very common in lower grades. This card can sell close to five figures when professionally graded a 7 or 8, but may only sell for “hundreds” when graded a 5. 1952 Topps Pafko cards graded 3 or 4 are lucky to fetch a couple hundred dollars.

1952 Topps hobby impact
As time goes by, the 1952 Topps Baseball Card Set continues to increase in popularity with collectors. This spring, DeansCards.com was fortunate enough to buy a large collection of high-grade 1952 Topps cards that included the Mantle card. Although I was concerned about the large investment that we had to make to acquire the collection, the cards sold extremely well. So far this year, over 20% of Dean’s Cards dollar sales have com from the1952 Topps Set! Never before has one set made up such a high percentage of our sales. That is quite a statement for the continued popularity of the set.

What amazes me is how much interest there still is in the 1952 Topps Set. For fun, I write commentaries on different vintage sets and post them to the Dean’s Cards blog at http://blog.deanscards.com. Earlier this year, I wrote a article and made two YouTube Videos about 1952 Topps sets. The 1952 Topps article and videos already have more visitors than any other set featured in our blog.

It's hardly hyperbole to suggest that 1952 Topps ushered in a new era of card collecting. For the first time, the cards were clearly the product being marketed and driving sales – not the gum or the tobacco. 1952 Topps gave collectors what they wanted and they responded. The manufacturers were forced to take notice and evolve their product.

1952 Topps became the baseline for new card development. The new size was adopted by Bowman Gum and they were forced to enhance their offering in order to survive. In 1953, Bowman “counter attacked” and tried to out do Topps with an even better product that featured beautiful color photographs. The companies also began bidding for the exclusive rights to use a player’s image on a card.

Unfortunately for Bowman the better design of the 1953 Bowman cards did not increase sales enough to offset the increased cost of producing the color cards. Bowman never fully recovered from the impact that the Topps 1952 set had on their sales. By 1955, Bowman was broke and forced to sell the company to Topps. Topps did not have a serious challenge in the sports card hobby for the next quarter century.

Topps never forgot the lesson on how quickly Bowman lost its dominant position in the market with just one greatly superior issue of cards. Unfortunately for collectors, during the 25 years of Topps exclusive reign, Topps invested more effort on streamlining costs and protecting its monopoly than innovating its product offering. This is one reason why the 1952 set remained a hobby standard for so many years.

Cost cutting and profit optimization is the typical strategy of monopolies in any market. Real innovation in the card collecting hobby did not reemerge until competitors were allowed to compete and collectors were again allowed to vote for the best product with their dollars in the 1980’s. The end result was an exciting reset to the hobby and the beginning of a card collecting boom.

Although, I agree that the hobby has had way too many sets issued in the last couple decades, I am doubtful that the exclusive license recently granted to Topps in the baseball card market will increase the quality or creativity of the products that they produce in the near future or bring the kids back into the hobby. Innovation is most often the child of competition, not monopolies. If history is an indicator, we will not see the next card collecting boom until another pioneer like Sy Berger comes along with a great idea and has the passion and drive to make it happen.

Until then, I am waiting patiently …. Well, I am waiting - maybe not so patiently.